Haystack Rock and other recent collages

Haystack Rock

Haystack Rock is located off shore of the seaside village of Cannon Beach in NW Oregon. The groupings of rock which commands the attention of visitors is quite accessible at low tide and is a popular attraction for children and their parents who love exploring the tide pools at its base. 

Our family spends lots of time in this lovely spot and images of Haystack fill my photo files. It seemed appropriate to see how I might build a collage that incorporates my photos and uses some of my painted papers. The collage is 9 x 12".

Brother Oak

Brother Oak, 9x12, features my photo of an oak tree that grows alongside a small family cemetery on a hillside outside Magazine, Arkansas. The wintertime photo was a rather blah wintertime photo so I 'colorized' it with a wash of blue and added some green to the grass.

I continue drawing in my sketchbook, motivated by the excellent teachers of the first semester of Sketchbook Skool. It has the result of encouraging me to draw every day, sometimes with tools such as colored pencils that are uncomfortable to me. I'd rather slop around paint than sit tediously layering color with pencils. But I intend to try it all and see what I can add to my skill set, and hope in the process to develop better hand-eye coordination and ability to draw what I see.  Here's today's drawing: 

Morning Coffee

Deep Blue... Mixed Media Collage

Deep Blue
Jo Reimer
9" x 12"
mixed media collage

This first completed collage of the week came about because I happened to put the photo of the ocean down on top of the painted paper. Composing the elements on a panel that I had just prepared with gesso over a failed effort led me to that sweet spot of knowing when it was just right.

Perhaps this makes the case for working with compost on a messy table.

The Heart of Art

PATH ALONGSIDE THE COLUMBIA - SAUVIES ISLAND, OREGON
Jo Reimer

I know exactly where I'm going with my work... I will concentrate on making art that honors God and that brings me joy in the doing. I won't worry about what other people think about what I make, whether they like it or not. What's important is that I keep on doing the best I can, in my own way.

Making art is a spiritual occupation. Artists work from their heart to produce the work that comes to them from within which means it has spiritual, but not necessarily religious, connections. It has everything to do with doing one's best.

And because one's art comes from the heart, the soul, and the mind, the essence of a person, external criticism of one's work can be very hurtful to the artist, especially those new to showing their work. Most of us have a soft heart. We work to create something beautiful but since beauty is in the eye of the beholder what we make isn't always embraced by all who see it... and that is okay. But hopefully the viewer will be kind and find something positive to say about our work and will be careful not to fling hurtful words around, at least in the artist's hearing.

I remember standing in the gallery at my first solo show and overhearing two women talking about a piece I had made. One said to the other, "well, it's nicely done, but what in the world IS it?". I could have been crushed but instead I laughed and I'm still laughing. Nowadays my work is more representational and most people understand what it is I'm doing even though they don't all like it.

At church today our pastor urged us to be positive about other people. Find three good things about each person, he said, and voice those positive words for both the good of the other person and for your own good.  It seems to me that we could adopt the same attitude when we look at a piece of art. Keep the negative criticism  to oneself and find something good to say.   I like that. I'll work on being less critical and being more positive. 

I currently work with acrylic and paper on canvas and board; I like to use watercolor in my art and travel journals; I love making collages with my own painted papers; and I've returned to stitching, now on paper as well as on fabric. At this point it looks to me like I never will have success with narrowing my focus to working with one single medium and though it used to trouble me that I couldn't focus I now accept that that’s who I am, a multi-media, mixed media art maker who loves the learning and the doing of a variety of ways.

Robert Genn www.painterskeys.com quoted Mas Kodani : "One does not stand still looking for a path. One walks; and as one walks, a path comes into being." What perfect direction for me today, if not tomorrow!